South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed an anti-education and anti-critical race theory (CRT) bill into law on Monday. In other words, she has officially affirmed her position as a racist lawmaker with an agenda to curb educators from teaching American history. Thank you, Karen.
Noem’s HB 1012 bill initially sought to ban what the state defined as “divisive concepts” from being taught in the classroom, as well as prohibiting state money from being used to teach such concepts. The actual bill that passed ended up only applying to orientations and trainings at colleges and universities.
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The law doesn’t stop professors in higher education from teaching CRT, and doesn’t violate professors’ First Amendment and academic freedoms, KELOLAND News reports.
“No student or teacher should have to endorse Critical Race Theory in order to attend, graduate from, or teach at our public universities,” Gov. Noem said in a statement. “College should remain a place where freedom of thought and expression are encouraged, not stifled by political agendas.”
Noem has continually railed about CRT, even falsely claiming that it was being taught by a professor at the University of South Dakota. KELOLAND News spoke with Dr. Dyanis Conrad-Popova about her curriculum and found that to be untrue.
According to Education Week, CRT is an academic concept that is over 40 years old. The central concept is that race is a social construct, and racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies. It came out of a framework for legal analysis that dates back to the 1970s.
“In my class, I never teach CRT, I don’t use that phrase at all, I don’t think I’ve ever used it at USD,” Dr. Popova told KELOLAND News.
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Popova says she does teach critical social justice (CSJ) and implicit bias in her curriculum, adding that CSJ is a new theory that builds on previous analytical ideas based on the concepts of, “Do we want to see a better world? Do we want a place where every kid, regardless of their background and experiences etcetera, can be valued, feel honored, safe, accepted?”
The good news is Noem didn’t get her way. She tried to ban CRT from the state’s K-12 curriculum (which it was never meant to be in) but in that case never got support from the Senate Education Committee
If you’re curious about “divisive concepts” as defined by Noem’s bill, see the list below.
- That any race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior;
- That individuals should be discriminated against or adversely treated because of their race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin;
- That an individual’s moral character is inherently determined by their race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin;
- That an individual, by virtue of their race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously;
- That individuals, by virtue of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin, are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin;
- An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual’s race, color, religion, ethnicity or national origin
- Meritocracy or traits such as a strong work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex.
Don’t forget, just last year, Noem also proved herself to be as anti-LGBTQ+ as she is racist.
Noem signed a bill into law barring trans girls from participating in girls’ sports teams and permitting cisgender student-athletes (as well as parents) claiming to survive some sort of “direct or indirect” harm to be able to sue institutions that didn’t enforce anti-trans policies.
“Common sense tells us that males have an unfair physical advantage over females in athletic competition,” Noem said in a ridiculous statement. Then she doubled down on her transphobia, tweeting that her goal is to ensure that “only girls are playing girls’ sports.” Trans girls, remember, are girls.
As Daily Kos staffer Marissa Higgins writes, “Texas, Idaho, Tennessee, Arkansas, Montana, West Virginia, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama—all have anti-trans sports legislations going. South Dakota has seen an absolute onslaught of anti-trans legislation over the past few years, and while it might be easy for some to say, ‘Well, what trans person would want to live in South Dakota?’ That’s really not fair.”